Publication Date: 27-06-2025 09:00
New 90-acre country park for Stevenage due to open next summer
Work on a new country park for Stevenage is progressing well ahead of its opening next year.
The new 90-acre park, which will be called St Nicholas Meadows, is being created by housebuilder Bellway next to its Forster Park development in the north of the town.
Detailed plans for St Nicholas Meadows, which include a community orchard, car park and public toilets, were approved by Stevenage Borough Council in May last year and work began at the end of last year. The park is due to open to the public in the summer of 2026.
St Nicholas Meadows is located within the St Nicholas/Rectory Lane Conservation Area next to Rooks Nest House, once the home of author EM Forster, who was inspired by the local landscape and featured it in his work, most notably the novel Howard’s End.
With that in mind, the park design will reflect Forster’s descriptions of the area which reference the farming, meadows, hay cutting, wheat harvesting and hedgerows. The land will be restored as informal open space roughly following the pattern of fields that would have existed in Forster’s time at Rooks Nest in the late 19th century.
So far, work has been carried out on installing the trees and the Sustainable Drainage System basin.
Greg Allsop, Sales Director for Bellway North London, said: “The creation of St Nicholas Meadows is a very exciting process as it allows us not only to restore the landscape to something that would have been familiar to EM Forster but also to create a wonderful area of open space for Stevenage where people can come and enjoy the peace and beauty of the countryside.
“By restoring the land, the hedges and hedgerow trees, we will reinforce the traditional local landscape and boost the biodiversity of the area.
“We are looking forward to the completion of this part of the Forster Park project and welcoming visitors into the park when it opens to the public next year.”
The biodiversity of the site will be monitored by experienced ecologists and Bellway has used 19th century Ordnance Survey maps to help it reinstate hedgerows that had been lost over time. An orchard will be created as a resource for the local community, and public toilets and a car park will also be provided.
Bellway is building 400 homes under its Bellway and Ashberry Homes brands at Forster Park, on land to the west of the country park, off North Road. The development is part of a wider project to build up to 800 homes on the site.
For more information about Forster Park, visit https://www.bellway.co.uk/new-homes/north-london/forster-park or https://www.ashberryhomes.co.uk/new-homes/north-london/ashberry-at-forster-park.
